|
Kid posted:So I got another batch of pork belly to make some bacon. But rather than 1 big belly the butcher gave me 10 pounds of pork belly chunks, some big some small. Think it will still work for bacon? This might be a really dumb suggestion, but maybe you could air-cure the chunks in a beef middle in the same fashion as coppa? I'm a charcuterie neophyte myself, about to start the cure on my first dry-cured pork belly today, which is my first charcuterie attempt ever. I'm using Ruhlman and Polcyn's recipe.
|
#
?
Dec 1, 2012 20:01
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 12:37 |
|
|
beefnchedda posted:So I am attempting to make duck proscuitto for Thanksgiving. How did they turn out? I just salted my duck breasts but just read in the Ruhlman book that they should be hung in a humid place about 50 to 60F/8 to 15C. Summer just started here so I have the humidity down pat but the temp may be a bit of a problem as it's been getting well above 30C/85F. Is that why you hung it in the fridge? I have a small temp controlled fridge I normally use for fermenting beer, could I use that to hang my ducks? Or is leaving them to dry in a sealed environment a bad idea? Basically I'm wondering how people are controlling the temp/humidity when curing? Xarb fucked around with this message at 06:29 on Dec 2, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 2, 2012 06:18
|
|
|
Xarb posted:Basically I'm wondering how people are controlling the temp/humidity when curing? I'm also wondering this. My house varies in temperature greatly from 12C to 20C. I have some space outside I could use but it's hovering at 1C outside right now.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 11:27
|
|
|
Jason Molinari has a great how-to for making a curing chamber out of a fridge at Cured Meats. I haven't tried it myself, but that set-up will be my fallback if my basement doesn't end up matching the temperature/humidity range. I'm buying a thermometer/hygrometer today to check. Speaking of which, even if my basement is the right environment, is it okay to hang a dry-cured pork belly without wrapping it in cheesecloth or anything first? I know if it was in an enclosed curing chamber it'd be fine but I don't know about in the basement in the open. I'm concerned there'd be insects all over it, even though it's winter and the only creatures I've seen around the house lately are spiders.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 13:33
|
|
|
Martello posted:Jason Molinari has a great how-to for making a curing chamber out of a fridge at Cured Meats. I haven't tried it myself, but that set-up will be my fallback if my basement doesn't end up matching the temperature/humidity range. I'm buying a thermometer/hygrometer today to check. Speaking of which, even if my basement is the right environment, is it okay to hang a dry-cured pork belly without wrapping it in cheesecloth or anything first? I know if it was in an enclosed curing chamber it'd be fine but I don't know about in the basement in the open. I'm concerned there'd be insects all over it, even though it's winter and the only creatures I've seen around the house lately are spiders. I think the point of the cheesecloth is so it dries out evenly instead of the outside getting dry faster.
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 19:08
|
|
|
dms666 posted:I think the point of the cheesecloth is so it dries out evenly instead of the outside getting dry faster. Ah, ok. So basically there's no real downside to using the cheesecloth and I might as well go for it? Here's my pork belly in the cure. I should have taken a photo of just the meat, it was beautiful. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 21:39
|
|
|
Martello posted:Jason Molinari has a great how-to for making a curing chamber out of a fridge at Cured Meats. I decided to re-purpose my fermenting fridge as a hanging fridge to see how it goes. I knew that keeping the wire shelves might come in handy someday.  Sorry beer! (time for bottling) dms666 posted:I think the point of the cheesecloth is so it dries out evenly instead of the outside getting dry faster. Ah, I definitely need to re-wrap my ducks then, they aren't wrapped snugly around the top.  If I can use this as a both a fermenting fridge and a curing fridge (not at the same time though) that would be pretty great. Just gotta get a hygrometer to test the humidity. If anyone can see something I'm doing terribly wrong please be sure to let me know. At least I already got the temperature part down. 
|
|
#
?
Dec 3, 2012 23:36
|
|
|
Xarb posted:Thanks for the link. I use one of the small fridges he warns against, but it doesn't have a freezer and I'm not sure there is a cool plate either, I'll have to check when I get home. No problem, dude. Glad to be of help. THE sausage debauchery is another great charcuterie site, also concentrating on salumi like Molinari does. Scott is more about "look at the awesome poo poo I made" than actually posting recipes and detailed instructions like Molinari, but his site is great inspiration and is why I finally decided to take the plunge and spend the money on the starting equipment for salumi. That includes fresh sausage. Speaking of which, can we talk about fresh sausage here since it's technically still charcuterie despite not being cured? This is the room in my basement I was thinking of using for drying.    It's what used to be a rainwater cistern. My house is around 200 years old. The only issue I can see is that the humidity is low (50%), and there are a number of large openings like the gap to the crawlspace that goes under my master suite addition. I assume humidifying just the cistern would be difficult, since the humid air would spread throughout the basement. The temperature is good though, hovering between 50 and 55 degrees F. Any suggestions on how successful drying might be in this room as-is or ways to improve it as a drying room? Martello fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Dec 4, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 00:23
|
|
|
Martello posted:
You might try closing off the open areas with plastic to protect from dust (and also hold in the humidity). For the humidity issue try placing a bowl of water in the bottom and see what it does. I would imagine the more surface area of water you have, the higher the humidity would get, so play around with different container sizes and see if they get the humidity where you want. Also I want a basement.
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 01:16
|
|
|
What's the effect of the drying area being too cold? My shed is a nice empty area but it's going to be hovering around 1-12C (33-55F).
|
|
#
?
Dec 4, 2012 11:27
|
|
|
Aramoro posted:What's the effect of the drying area being too cold? My shed is a nice empty area but it's going to be hovering around 1-12C (33-55F). Condensation on the meat? I'm a recent convert to this hobby. Here's some bacon I've got going. Looks right so far?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 01:51
|
|
|
dalstrs posted:You might try closing off the open areas with plastic to protect from dust (and also hold in the humidity). For the humidity issue try placing a bowl of water in the bottom and see what it does. I would imagine the more surface area of water you have, the higher the humidity would get, so play around with different container sizes and see if they get the humidity where you want. Also I want a basement. Great idea, I'm gonna try that sometime this week. Thanks!
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 01:54
|
|
|
I've had a question nibbling at the back of my mind for a while that you magnificent pork potentates will probably be able to answer. I have heard the "American" bacon is a cured product, whereas in other countries you basically buy slices of bacon raw. I have found that indeed, in China, bacon lacks the enormous flavor I was used to and tastes a lot more like any random piece of meat fried up on a grill. But I never found any information to confirm the idea that American bacon was a distinct product. What say you, porklords?
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 15:03
|
|
|
Last night I processed a 6-pound pork shoulder to make Italian sausage. I only needed 4 pounds so I cut the remaining 2 into big 3-inch chunks to make coppa. Ruhlman and Polcyn's recipes always say "non-reactive baking pan." Since it was such a small amount, I used a shallow Rubbermaid container. Is there anything wrong with using plastic for curing? I know some of the other people here cure in plastic bags so I figured it's probably fine but I just wanted to check.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 15:27
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:I've had a question nibbling at the back of my mind for a while that you magnificent pork potentates will probably be able to answer. I have heard the "American" bacon is a cured product, whereas in other countries you basically buy slices of bacon raw. I have found that indeed, in China, bacon lacks the enormous flavor I was used to and tastes a lot more like any random piece of meat fried up on a grill. But I never found any information to confirm the idea that American bacon was a distinct product. What say you, porklords? Bacon is cured by definition. America tends to smoke it too. Having been to China they probably translated it wrong or just lied. You can't just slice raw belly or loin and call it bacon...
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 16:05
|
|
|
Arglebargle III posted:I've had a question nibbling at the back of my mind for a while that you magnificent pork potentates will probably be able to answer. I have heard the "American" bacon is a cured product, whereas in other countries you basically buy slices of bacon raw. I have found that indeed, in China, bacon lacks the enormous flavor I was used to and tastes a lot more like any random piece of meat fried up on a grill. But I never found any information to confirm the idea that American bacon was a distinct product. What say you, porklords? The sodium nitrate that is used in curing to make it pink adds a distinct bacony flavor to it. It also helps if the bacon is smoked, that also adds a lot of flavor.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 16:07
|
|
|
Lord of the Llamas posted:Bacon is cured by definition. America tends to smoke it too. Having been to China they probably translated it wrong or just lied. You can't just slice raw belly or loin and call it bacon... He's right. What they apparently called "bacon" is just pork belly. It's a common cheap meat in both Chinese and Korean cuisine.
|
|
#
?
Dec 5, 2012 16:14
|
|
|
Perfidy!
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 06:55
|
|
|
Was going to pick up Ruhlman's Charcuterie for Christmas, is Salumi worth getting too? I have read mixed reviews on Salumi. I would eventually like to start making both types, didnt know if there were better book resources or not.
|
|
#
?
Dec 6, 2012 16:55
|
|
|
I have a similar question about duck prosciutto; how should it look and feel when it is "done"? I didn't weigh the breasts before curing (Santa, please bring me a food scale) so I can't use the 30% rule. Ruhlman indicates that some squishiness means it still needs to hang, but his book also says hang for "one week" when other sources suggest 2-3. Ruhlman also says pliability is good. Youtube videos on the subject tend to produce duck bricks. What's right?Xarb posted:How did they turn out? Hired_Sellout fucked around with this message at 02:07 on Dec 11, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2012 01:51
|
|
|
Hired_Sellout posted:I have a similar question about duck prosciutto; how should it look and feel when it is "done"? I didn't weigh the breasts before curing (Santa, please bring me a food scale) so I can't use the 30% rule. Ruhlman indicates that some squishiness means it still needs to hang, but his book also says hang for "one week" when other sources suggest 2-3. Ruhlman also says pliability is good. Youtube videos on the subject tend to produce duck bricks. What's right? Given these methods predate hygrometers and fridges by quite some time I think people tend to worry too much about temp and humidity when it comes to simpler things like duck prosciutto. I recently hung a breast in a bedroom wardrobe (heating was off in the room so it was reasonably cool in there) where I measured the humidity to be only 50% and it turned out fine after a week, I used a tea-towel to wrap it to somewhat balance for the dry air. Hold the breast firmly between your thumb and index/middle fingers and push in opposite directions as if you were rubbing your fingers together. It shouldn't feel like it's pivoting around the centre of the breast if it's dried out enough (otherwise the middle is still too squishy).
|
|
#
?
Dec 11, 2012 03:31
|
|
|
A pork belly and coppa-like object I hung up last week. I'll post more about them tomorrow since I need to get to bed.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2012 07:35
|
|
|
If I follow the Stupid Easy Bacon recipe from the first post, it's really not going to be harmed if I could only find "chuck" belly (bacon length, but about an inch wide) and if it's in for over a week, right?
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2012 07:46
|
|
|
I'm making the pancetta recipe from Ruhlman's book, and I'm about six days into the refrigerator step, but it's not letting out too much in the way of liquid. Is that normal for this recipe?
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2012 11:23
|
|
|
Xarb posted:How did they turn out? They actually turned out great and were a big hit at the party. I did very little to control the temperature and humidity. I thought the humidity would be too low in the refrigerator, so I placed a cup of water in there - which probably caused the unit to have too much humidity. Either way, the taste was spot on. The recipe I used was a modified Ruhlman, where I gave two breasts a rub of fennel, pepper, coriander (seed), and salt, then placed the two breasts meat side to meat side before wrapping in cheesecloth.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2012 16:58
|
|
|
Which way do you guys typically slice your bacon after it's smoked? Long slices on the left or short slices on the right? or does it not really matter? I've done it both ways due to the shapes of some of the bellies I've cured. (Borrowed the above picture for reference only)
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2012 19:20
|
|
|
atothesquiz posted:Which way do you guys typically slice your bacon after it's smoked? Long slices on the left or short slices on the right? or does it not really matter? I've done it both ways due to the shapes of some of the bellies I've cured. Against the grain is the correct answer I believe.
|
|
#
?
Dec 23, 2012 19:33
|
|
|
I hung up a pork belly and a coppa to dry in my basement, two Thursdays ago. This is what they looked like last Tuesday.  From what I've read, a little white mold is fine on stuff with a casing, like the coppa. The belly I'm not sure about, since it's not wrapped. Should I wipe them down with a rag soaked in white vinegar? This is something I read you can do if you don't like the white mold. Or are they both fine and I should leave them be?
|
|
#
?
Dec 25, 2012 08:32
|
|
|
Well I got both Charcuterie and Salumi for Christmas, time to look on Craigslist for a cheap wine fridge. I would look for a cheap fridge, but I do not have the space for one. I guess with the wine fridge I wont have to worry about temp at least, just making sure the humidity is right.
|
|
#
?
Dec 27, 2012 02:46
|
|
|
Lord of the Llamas posted:Given these methods predate hygrometers and fridges by quite some time I think people tend to worry too much about temp and humidity when it comes to simpler things like duck prosciutto. I recently hung a breast in a bedroom wardrobe (heating was off in the room so it was reasonably cool in there) where I measured the humidity to be only 50% and it turned out fine after a week, I used a tea-towel to wrap it to somewhat balance for the dry air. Hold the breast firmly between your thumb and index/middle fingers and push in opposite directions as if you were rubbing your fingers together. It shouldn't feel like it's pivoting around the centre of the breast if it's dried out enough (otherwise the middle is still too squishy). You were absolutely right. I was just impatient. Another week in the fridge and they turned out beautifully. Not too salty, good creamy fat, and well balanced with the spices. Your description of checking for correct moisture loss by shifting them between one's fingers was spot on too. Many thanks. I will post pictures of the next batch, since I think this is going to become a regular thing...
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 05:30
|
|
|
I slapped together sometime basic belly and back bacon last weekend. The back was wet cured, and the belly made per the OP. The belly won't be ready until this weekend, but I tried the back today and it turned out surprisingly well, much better than store bought. Nothing fancy in the brine: salt, sugar, brown sugar, and curing salt, and sat it in the fridge for 4 days. Maybe I'll put in some liquid smoke next time. Anyway, that's going to be a staple, as the more sources of tasty, lean protein I have, the better. I'm looking forward to the belly bacon this weekend. Thanks for the helpful OP; I've dabbled in beef jerky and usually brine poultry, but never thought to try curing. Good stuff!
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 06:11
|
|
|
Are there any benefits to letting these things cure longer than the 3-4 days of brining or 7 days of dry curing (is there a specific term for this), or any downsides? I'm asking because I like to make things in bulk when it's practical, and while I could just freeze some portions after the cure, if it's safe or beneficial to just leave them in my fridge longer until I need them (up to a few weeks), I'm down with that. Would I need to make any tweaks to the amount of curing salt, or reapply it, or any other changes and such? This seems like it could become addictive.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 19:57
|
|
|
Just cured two Berkshire hog jowls last night, one with just a basic pink salt, kosher salt, and sugar cure. The other was with the Lola recipe. Having been to Lola before, I hope that the cure works well with jowl as well as it did with belly. Smoking them and some ribs next weekend on my new Weber Smokey Mountain over apple and hickory.
|
|
#
?
Jan 3, 2013 20:01
|
|
|
Shine posted:This seems like it could become addictive. Its amazing how easy and cheap it is. I'd never considered it before this thread and all bacon is home made now. I need to start branching out more and want to make pastrami but what gets sold as brisket in the UK is different to every picture I've seen
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2013 13:56
|
|
|
I'm going to make Ruhlman's bacon from the OP this coming week. Just to confirm: 1) It should be good for a few weeks in a ziploc bag in the fridge 2) I can freeze it indefinitely with no health or taste issues
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2013 14:40
|
|
|
Petey posted:I'm going to make Ruhlman's bacon from the OP this coming week. Just to confirm: 1 is true, but for 2, indefinitely is wrong - almost anything in a home freezer doesn't taste as good after a year or so.
|
|
#
?
Jan 4, 2013 16:19
|
|
|
Turning this into bacon right now... the larger slab on top is four pounds I've got in a basic cure plus about 1/3 cup of grade-B maple, a couple teaspoons of cinnamon, a few tablespoons of whiskey, and a vanilla bean; the smaller slab is 3 1/2 pounds curing with about a half cup of black cherry concentrate and a vanilla bean.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2013 20:34
|
|
|
Thanks, thread! The butcher gave me a super fatty cut. These things render so much on the skillet that you can basically poach eggs in it.
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2013 20:39
|
|
|
Shine posted:Thanks, thread! Is that the back, or the belly?
|
|
#
?
Jan 6, 2013 22:30
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 12:37 |
|
|
Petey posted:Is that the back, or the belly? This is a hella fatty belly. I didn't take pictures of the back; slipped my mind.
|
|
#
?
Jan 7, 2013 00:09
|
|